It starts with symptoms in his toddler daughter, which seem quite harmless at first glance. “Some complaints that are more common in children,” says the weatherman. “Then it suddenly turned out that she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And then your world is turned upside down.”
’21 years old and very much alive’
A long journey in the hospital follows. “Then you get an agenda for 2 years with all kinds of treatments, chemotherapy and well, you can’t think of it all. You don’t know what will happen then,” continues Wilt.
Years of uncertainty follow, but Jolijn grows into a very healthy young woman. “She is now 21 years old, very much alive, studying in Nijmegen and she is really a top girl. But we had to fight very hard for that,” says Wilt, after which he points to the good medical care and medication that were already available at that time. is. “If we were still about 20, 30 years back in time, she probably wouldn’t have survived.”
Research can further increase survival rate
The survival rate of patients has increased considerably in recent decades, but unfortunately there is still room for improvement. And that development requires research, which in turn costs a lot of money. Donations are therefore very much needed. “KWF is extremely important in this, and yes, our money,” emphasizes the meteorologist. “Whatever we do: whether we organize a bike ride, or something small in the neighborhood, or fill a collection box, it is all very important. That money is very much needed to ultimately achieve better results.”
Now, of course, a lot of money is already being spent in the pharmaceutical industry and health insurers. That also sometimes chafes at Wilt, but “our care is already quite expensive there”, he adds. “That money ends up very well, because the number of cancer cases is increasing, but fortunately the chance of survival due to these types of studies is also increasing enormously,” he continues. “So I’d say, ‘Just fill up that collection box.’ We only want one thing, of course: to get rid of that rotten disease one day and not to experience all that misery again.”
2023-09-06 10:00:33
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